Leopold I. thereupon declared war against France, in the hope of gaining the crown of Spain for his son, the Archduke Karl. England and Holland made alliances with him, and he was supported by most of the German States. The Elector, Frederick III. of Brandenburg (son of "the Great Elector"), who was a very proud and ostentatious prince, furnished his assistance on condition that he should be authorized by the Emperor to assume the title of King. Since the traditional customs of the German Empire did not permit another king than that of Bohemia among the Electors, Frederick was obliged to take the name of his detached Duchy of Prussia, instead of Brandenburg. On the 18th of January, 1701, he crowned himself and his wife at Königsberg, and was thenceforth called king Frederick I. of Prussia. But his capital was still Berlin, and thus the names of "Prussia" and "the Prussians"--which came from a small tribe of mixed Slavonic blood--were gradually transferred to all his other lands and their population, German, and especially Saxon, in character. Prince Eugene of Savoy saw the future with a prophetic glance when he declared: "the Emperor, in his own interest, ought to have hanged the Ministers who counselled him to make this concession to the Elector of Brandenburg!" The Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria and his brother, the Archbishop of Cologne, openly espoused the cause of France. Several smaller princes were also bribed by Louis XIV., but one of them, the Duke of Brunswick, after raising 12,000 men for France, was compelled by the Elector of Hannover to add them to the German army. With such miserable disunion at home, Germany would have gone to pieces and ceased to exist, but for the powerful participation of England and Holland in the war. The English Parliament, it is true, only granted 10,000 men at first, but as soon as Louis XIV. recognized the exiled Stuart, Prince James, as rightful heir to the throne of England, the grant was enlarged to 40,000 soldiers and an equal number of sailors. The value of this aid was greatly increased by the military genius of the English commander, the famous Duke of Marlborough. [Sidenote: 1703. FIGHTING ALONG THE RHINE.]